Looking Back
Through the pages of the Wapakoneta Daily News
100 YEARS AGO, FEBRUARY 23, 1921
▪ GOLDFISH SALE-GOLD Fish, Aquarium, Pebbles and Sea Weed ALL FREE! Would you like two beautiful gold fish, in an aquarium complete with pebbles and seaweed, all FREE? Come to the Central Drug Store Tuesday Morning. We are going to give 144 customers free goldfish. Here’s the way to get them. In the center of our store will be a long table. This table will be loaded with staple merchandise, not dead stock or dust-covered relics, but articles such as are listed below. You spend $1.00 or more for these articles and the fish aquarium and all are yours, Free. These are some of the articles you will find on sale: Hill’s Cascara Quinine, 25 cents. Sloan’s Liniment, 35 cents-70 cents. California Syrup of Figs, 50 cents. Corn Huskers Lotion, 35 cents. Hot Water Bottles, $1.25 to $4.00. Milk’s Emulsion, 75 cents. Syrup of Pepsin, 60 cents to $1.20. Allinrhu, $1.50. Trutona, $1.00 White Pine and Spruce Balsam, 35 cents and 65 cents. Laxative Cold Breakers, 25 cents. Tonsiline, 35 cents and 60 cents. Drake’s Croup Remedy, 50 cents. Turpo, 30 cents. Earle’s Hypo-cod, $1.25, 20th century Liniment, 60 cents and $1.20. and many others. Come Early. The Central Drug Store. J.P. Anderson, Manage.
▪ From cellar to garret of Blume High School Monday night humanity was packed like sardines. The carnival was a huge success; the people subscribed liberally and enough money was realized to send the basketball team to the Denison tournament next Thursday, with probably from $200 to $250 to put into the library and athletic funds. It is known that the gross receipts totaled $390.30. Shortly after the opening and until 8 o’clock the upper and lower stairways, the big auditorium on the second floor, the assembly hall on the first floor and many classrooms were o parked with humanity that it was hardly possible for anybody to move around. But they all got in. They were not squeezed so tight but that they could reach their pocketbooks.
75 YEARS AGO, FEBRUARY 23, 1946
▪ Four Rhoades brothers, son of the late Glenn Rhoades and Mrs. Rhoades, West Auglaize street, were among the 24 candidates initiated into the mysteries of Elkdom last week at the annual Washington Day ceremonies in Elks Home. Preliminary to the evening’s festivities was a dinner in Elks Home dining hall, attended by 275 Elks and Candidates. A turkey menu was serviced by the Elks house committee, headed by Walter R. Bowsher, Sr., exalted ruler. The new Elks who are wearing the antlers are: R.C. Mitchell of Lakeview and Robert Orphal of St. Marys, and the following from Wapakoneta: Gene Rhoades, Dean Rhoades, Charles Rhoades, and Vernon Rhoades, Darrell Woolf, Ferrell Weimert, George Young. Melvin Kah, Harold Kridler, Harry Miller, Lewis Nuss, James Oen, Herman Allman, John Blair, Russell Bogart, Clarence Bowen, Charles Corwin, Delmar Harshbarger, Herm Herbst, Harold Harrison, and Henry Kelly.
▪ Speaking of school buildings of course we might arrange to have Wapakoneta children go to the new and build them right/ People in our neighboring towns? Maybe Uniopolis, New Knoxville, Moulton, Cridersville and other progressive towns would take pity on us and provide us with something we haven’t enough public spirit to do ourselves? Or maybe this schooling is all foolishness anyway and we can get along without schools. (Maybe that’ll make somebody made enough to do something?) It appears we are not permitted by law to raise enough money to build more than one new building and build them right. People in the eastend object to having their children go across the railroad tracks, many in the westend object to theirs crossing the tracks. We have a fine site in the eastend but it is a long way from the center of the city. The westend site is more centrally located but is not large enough. Then there is the high school building; it is modern compared with the old, dilapidated Williamson firetrap but it is not hat a high school building should be by a long ways.
50 YEARS AGO, FEBRUARY 23, 1971
▪ Re. Milk 99 cents Gal. 2% Skim Milk 97 cents Gal. Every Day Prices. Sandwich Specials: 3-Ham, 3-Fish, or 3-Hamburgers For $1.00 EQUITY DRIVE-IN Cor. Willipie & Vine Sts.
25 YEARS AGO, FEBRUARY 23, 1996
▪ Five Wapakoneta High School students in Marcia Garver’s Intensive Business Education Class received awards in the Business Professionals of America regional contest. The tests were taken individually by students at Wapakoneta and surround schools. Kim Meihls received 5th for database application. Staci Shoup received 4th for database application. Shelley Ware received 3rd for database application. Stacey Smith received 3rd for yearbook. Nickie Rohrbacher received second for legal concepts. Rohrbacher will compete in the state events in Columbus on March 22-23.
▪ The board of trustees of the Wapakoneta Area Economic Development Council learned at their recent board meeting that Miller’s Textile has applied to the city for tax abatements consideration in preparation of the business’ pending relocation to the West Central Ohio Industrial Park. Miller’s will erect a 28,000-square foot building on property purchased from the Wapakoneta Industrial Development Inc. group, with groundbreaking scheduled for April. The estimated project cost is $1.4 million.